Back to 49er football. Here we at week 10 of the 2011 football season, and the 49ers are 7-1, ranked as high as #2 in some of these semi-meaningless ‘power’ rankings, and they are now the #1 game coming up this Sunday. Man, it reminds me of the heady days when the 49ers and whoever they played were the national game of the week. Madden and Summerall would be lounging in the press box, and the Pow, Boom, Bam’s could be heard all across town.

As it is now, this is not necessarily a do-or-die game. They can certaibnly lose this and not really lose momentum in their playoff drive. Play it tough, and the country will see that this really is an improved team that might be a force to be reckoned with come playoff time. Win, and that becomes even more relevant. A big loss however would undo a lot of what has already happened this season. The 49er schedule is pretty easy from here on out, but the 3 tough opponents coming up, the Giants, Baltimore , and Pittsburgh, are all nationally televised games. Losing all those games would be a blow to the progress the team has gained. At least perception-wise. Not that it really matters, but being greedy, I’d like to see them win 2 of those. That being said, if they go 4-4 down the stretch, they’ll be 11-5. WAY beyond most people’s expectations. And certainly in the playoffs. After that, who knows?